(July 1, 2011 - by Ralph Kurtenbach) Volunteering his engineering skills this summer in Ecuador, Michael Stück is cognizant of the legacy his relatives have left to him in this small South American country.

Summer interns serving in Ecuador.

Stück is among the 25 college student interns serving at six sites in five countries (Ghana, U.K., Ecuador, Spain and U.S.) with HCJB Global, including six in the Latin America Region. None are salaried. Instead, they have raised the funds needed to go. Churches and individuals have funded the interns' travel and living expenses.

When another student intern, Brandon Cole, stepped onto the tarmac, he set foot in Africa, a continent where his late grandfather, Dr. John Slater, and his great uncle, had served through medical missions.

Decades of missions tradition had come down to Brandon from both his father's and his mother's side, a reverent aura perhaps as palpable as the sweltering heat of Accra, Ghana, that greeted him. The student interns are there during one of the rainiest months, according to Sheila Leech, vice president of international healthcare, who is leading the five-member team that will serve in Ghana this month.

"We'll trust that the Lord can manage to put a positive spin on the heat and the sweat," wrote Dr. Steve Nelson, who together with his wife, Dorothy, is helping with the interns.

Brandon's twin brother, Bryan, is spending his summer at the HCJB Global Ministry Service Center in Colorado and their parents, Curt and Karen Cole, are directing spiritual formation for the Ghana team. Curt is one of the mission's vice presidents of international ministries.

"I know Brandon has wanted to be a doctor since he was small because of his grandfather's medical work in Africa. That has deeply impacted him," said Curt. "He sees this as an opportunity to serve and learn about medicine in Ghana and learn a bit about his grandfather's passion." Now a medical school student in Kansas City, Brandon grew up in Ecuador where the Coles served before Curt's work took them to the mission's international headquarters.

It was on the African continent where the Coles first met in 1976 as students at a missionary school in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Now they travel back periodically to conduct workshops and seminars.